Chapter 479

Ajax wasted no time reacting. While he couldn’t get himself out of the way of the beam that didn’t mean there was nothing he could do. His muscles flexed as he fought against the telekinetic force that tried to restrain him as he brought up his left arm and raised it while also taking out a large tower wall shield that covered most of his body. 

More than that Ajax infused the shield with Metal mana. Decay was a very powerful affinity when dealing with organic matter but as the beam hit the metal shield it barely had any effect, it was slowly corroding and rusting the metal shield but that hardly did anything to it, Ajax’s own enhancement was more detrimental to the shield than the Decay beam. His feet on the other hand were caught by the beam and Ajax could feel the flesh rot and drop off his bones even as his Life and Light mana were trying to heal it back up. 

It barely took moments for the beholder to realize that the attack wasn’t working as intended before it swapped to using Ice and Wind attack to blast Ajax from the sides. During this time however Ajax wasn't simply sitting still. He was pushing [Mana Syphon] as hard as he could to break free from the grasp of [Telekinesis] but it was a slog as the mana was even more resistant than Anna’s flames to his skill.

Realising defence wasn’t the way to go Ajax also added offence as he stopped trying to ration his mana and launched a number Wind, Lightning and and Magma bolts towards the Floor Boss. 

The Wind and Lightning both hit their marks yet the Magma bolt slowed down before stopping for a moment and returning towards Ajax. The move might have seemed smart from the outside but that moment of divided focus was all Ajax needed to free himself from the creature’s magical grasp. 

Ajax’s feet hadn’t recovered from the Decay beam, his ankles snapping as he landed on the group but Ajax grit his teeth and endured the spike of agony. More than anything however Ajax was focused on keeping the monster away from his friends and fiance, he didn’t care about the pain he was in, he didn’t care about how much mana he was using. And what better way to keep the beholder away from them than by using his own trick against it.

Having felt [Telekinesis] first hand Ajax had a good feel for how it worked now, more than that his [Sense Mana] had gotten a very good look at the spell structure as it was being slowly taken apart by [Mana Syphon], replicating the spell was still a stressful accomplishment but as Ajax dropped both of his weapons and made a grasping motion with his arms the beholder was gripped and tossed towards the jungle floor.

With the creature now on the ground Ajax didn’t hesitate at all. Telekinesis, Wind, Fire and Decay were all useless as a defence against Earth spells. The only option the beholder had left was Ice. Ajax pumped over seven hundred mana points into launching as many earthen spikes to impale the flesh ball of eyes, the attack ending up being fatal as the ball released two powerful tremors as it tried to free itself from the earthen spikes before it stilled, all its remaining eyes getting a glassy unfocused looked as the Floor Boss died.

Ajax let out a sigh of relief as he felt the last drops of life drain away from the beholder before using [Inspector’s Eye] to ensure it was truly dead. The fight had been much closer than he would have liked it, Ajax still had over three thousand health points as well as two thousand Stamina and five hundred Mana, he was nowhere near his limit. Despite that however he had gotten dangerously close to being killed by the creature all because he acted rashly and overlooked a crucial factor.

With the fight over Ajax carefully sat himself down as he started healing up his legs. Both Life and Light mana were essential for undoing the damage the Decay beam had done as well as restoring the crushed bones from his previous impact with the jungle floor.

“You doing okay Lord Hearthbound?” the healer of the royal squad was the first to get to him and made a gesture to offer his services. 

“I’m fine,” Ajax said as he shook his head denying the help offered, the insights he was getting from all but regrowing his feet following the decay of his flesh and blood was important to his understanding of how Life and Light mana healed. “Though I may have messed up a bit there at the end.” 

Ajax hadn’t even properly finished his sentence as Lexi half ran half stumbled to his side as she put her arms around him, though he wasn’t sure if she was trying to comfort him or strangle him. 

“You idiot.” She cried out as she took in the damage to his feet. “How could you fall for such an obvious trap?” 

“I might have gotten a little protective. I’m sorry I worried about you.” Ajax admitted as he hugged Lexi back. “ Was it worth it? Did you get the Achievement?” 

“We got it.” Anna confirmed as she also joined them, though she was much more objective than Lexi as she took in the damage Ajax had taken and decided it wasn’t anything to be worried about. “And the boon is damn near perfect for me.” 

“What is it?” Ajax asked, his healing lowering in intensity slightly as most of his focused turned to the new topic. 

Anna paused for a moment as she looked around, debating if she wanted to spread the information so publicly. That look around reminded her that she wasn’t the only one to get the boon. With six of the people who had gotten the boon belonging to poorer and less influential Houses meant it wouldn’t be long before the information leaked to most of Gryndor so there was no harm in sharing it openly. 

“I can now aspect a potion of my mana pool.” Anna said with pride. “I can slowly convert up to a third of my mana pool to match with different mana affinities. I can choose as many affinities as I want but I can’t aspect more than a third in total.” 

Ajax was impressed by just how well the boon fit not only Anna but also Lexi and Xavier. Whereas Anna would be able to fully focus on Fire mana both Lexi and Xavier had the option of getting access to multiple different mana affinities to go with their more versatile fighting styles.

“How big is the impact of attuned mana on spells?” Ajax asked though he already suspected the answer. 

With information about how the boon worked Ajax was pretty sure he figured out just why the beholder’s spells were more resistant to his [Mana Syphon]. By using aspected mana to fuel spells of the same affinity it not only boosted the spells power but it also made them much more stable and increased the resistance to Legendary skill.

“I’m not sure.” Anna admitted. “It’s definitely something that we need to test, we also need to be careful since the boon mensions that using attuned mana to fuel spells that are based on a different affinity can make the spells weaker depending on the interaction between the affinity used and the affinity of the spell.” 

Ajax knew that such testing would take time but it had come at the perfect moment. Lexi was already going to have to focus on her training to better adapt to her increased attributes, this was the ideal moment for her to slow down slightly in her leveling speed to consolidate her gains as she slowly attuned her mana pool and got used to wielding attuned mana. 

“How about you?” Benedict asked with a congratulatory smile. “How were your gains from this fight?” 

Ajax could help the grin that crawled over his face revealing a set of bloody teeth as some of the internal bleeding he had suffered caused some of the blood to work its way into his mouth. Benedict was right, the fight had been a boon for Ajax. He had gained two new skills.

The first skill he had gained right as the fight had started [Overloaded Spell Conductor], it was an Epic skill that Ajax would practice a lot to help improve his efficiency with House Hearthbound’s first and currently only heirloom weapon. The second however was a Legendary skill that had baffled humanoids for millenia, they had successfully tried to recreate facets or poor imitations of the skill over the years but now here he was: a human who had gained the Legendary skill [Telekinesis].